Issues of concern to people who live in the west: property rights, water rights, endangered species, livestock grazing, energy production, wilderness and western agriculture. Plus a few items on western history, western literature and the sport of rodeo... Frank DuBois served as the NM Secretary of Agriculture from 1988 to 2003. DuBois is a former legislative assistant to a U.S. Senator, a Deputy Assistant Secretary of Interior, and is the founder of the DuBois Rodeo Scholarship.

Wednesday, April 27, 2016

Rhetoric vs. Reality - American Lands Council

Recently, an east coast political hit squad who call themselves
'Campaign for Accountability' (CfA), released an article in which their
Executive Director, Ann Weisnmann, regurgitates multiple lines of
rhetoric that are not new in the public lands debate, but are no closer
to the truth than the first time they were hatched. Fortunately, lies
told repeatedly are still just lies and the truth can be proven with
facts.
According to Weismann, the Transfer of Public Lands (TPL)
to the states is a "patently unconstitutional cause" and we must STOP
talking about it! Last year her group even went so far as to file claims
of fraud against leading TPL spokesman Ken Ivory to stop our efforts to
educate and organize the Transfer of Public Lands movement. Did she
forget these frivolous claims were dismissed in every state in which she
attempted these Stalin-like suppression of speech maneuvers? No, but
she did get headlines in 58 newspapers the day she filed the claims, so
her real objective of smearing our spokesman was probably successful in
her eyes.
The truth has never stopped Weismann and her allies from pushing
their deceptive rhetoric. For example, their primary "legal evidence"
for opposing TPL is a few low tier lawyers with very limited expertise on the subject. Opponents
of TPL conveniently forget to inform their readers of the many legal
white papers, law reviews, and independent studies of Constitutional
law, Statehood agreements, and Supreme Court cases that validate the
States' rights to govern the lands, resources, and people within our own
boundaries (see HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE for a few examples). Opponents don't want you to know about the legitimate findings of the nation's foremost experts like Ronald Rotunda, who is considered the Michael Jordan of constitutional law. They don't want you to know about the Official Legal Analysis commissioned
by the State of Utah in which Rotunda and a highly credible team of
co-authors show the transfer of federally controlled public lands to the
states is completely constitutional.

Rotunda's works have been cited more than 1,000 times by state and
federal courts at every level, from trial courts to the U.S. Supreme
Court, yet Weismann and other opponents never cite him. Is there any
wonder why?
Because opponents have no substantive arguments against TPL, they
typically resort to deception. For example, Ms. Weismann claims that Ken
Ivory is running around trying to "drum up support" for the Transfer of
Public Lands. In reality, Ken is continuously invited to speak at major
events because of the very fact that so many people are already
supportive of the Transfer of Public Lands and want to know more about
it. In fact, a growing number of Americans hunger for these true
principles of freedom upon which our nation was founded and upon which
the sovereignty of the states and the balance of powers in our nation
are hinged. Rather than being "unsuspecting victims", as twisted in Ms.
Weismann's usual pattern of casting doubt, people all over the nation
are seeking greater understanding of these very issues that so
profoundly affect our lives and livelihoods.
In another tall tale, Weismann and company like to assert that Ken
Ivory started the American Lands Council, as if he did so to get rich.
Another false claim. ALC was founded by county commissioners in
the West, who then asked Rep. Ivory to be their spokesperson and
educate the surrounding states concerning the history of the public
lands and the legal responsibilities of both Congress and the states
concerning the matter. People like Weismann call out Mr. Ivory's salary
but fail to tell us they make far more! Pot...meet kettle.
For example, according to 2014 tax records (see page 7), Ann Weismann took over $196,000 in compensation from the "non profit organization" (CREW),
while Executive Director Melanie Sloan took over $252,000. Their Senior
Counsel took over $152,000. And they are making an issue over ALC's
President giving up his successful law practice to earn $135,000 a year (see page 7)? The opposition groups pay more in fundraising fees than ALC has ever paid its top executives! (see page 1, 16b) We have yet to see what pay raise Ms.Weismann has received from her new founded "non profit organization" because to date, Campaign for Accountability has
declined to release their 2015 financial records. What kind of
"accountability" is that? With foreign billionaire George Soros likely
footing the bill, our opponents seem to be able to pay themselves very
handsomely to weave their web of deception.
Critics like Weismann also like to point out that Mr. Ivory's salary
was nearly half of ALC's budget. This might be a big deal if ALC's
budget came anywhere near the $2.8 budget of Ms. Weismann's 2014
employer, but is hardly cause for alarm in the case of ALC's very modest
budget which averages less than $300,000 per year. Opponents like
Weismann neglect to mention that it was indeed half of the budget because
American Lands Council is an educational organization, and Mr. Ivory
was our primary educator. As an organization, the American Lands Council
does not throw money away on meaningless extras, but puts our our
membership-based income into giving knowledge and courage to elected officials and those who choose them...precisely what our members are relying on us to do.
In another attempt to suppress the truth, Ms. Weismann points out
that her organization "released dozens of emails showing how Ivory used
his legislative email account to promote ALC". What she neglects to
point out is that her organization reviewed more than 5,000 emails from
Mr. Ivory's state email account through a Government Records request, and requested all communication records from every organization throughout the west in which Mr. Ivory may have communicated over the past six years
that he has been in office. The result of this witch hunt was nothing
more than 23 random emails -- over a 6 year period -- which were sent
from Ken's legislative email address simply because it is the account
which the recipient had used to contact him. In other words, he received
an email about the work of the American Lands Council and hit reply
instead of switching to another email account, and for this CfA wants
him locked up! By the way, each of the emails is public and none show
any wrong-doing or dark motives.
Last, but certainly not least, Ms. Weismann and friends always try to
tie Ivory and the American Lands Council to outside groups, claiming
that Ivory is responsible for "anti-government militants, such as those
who took over Oregon’s Malheur National Wildlife Refuge". This is
another desperate attempt to distort the facts. ALC and Ivory have both
repeatedly expressed the need for legal and constitutional avenues of resolving the issue of our public lands,
and have never advocated any means of compelling a lands transfer in
any way other than through legislative and judicial paths. This is and
remains our true aim, and because we are on target, we are taking flack
from those who prefer increased federal control over our lives and
lands.
It is an age-old truth that when people cannot stand on facts, they
will turn the debate into an attack on character. We encourage all to do
their own research. Do not fall for the scare tactics of opposition
groups likely more concerned about the continuation of their own salary
than promoting the truths and freedoms that benefit us all.